1. Field of Invention
The present invention provides an attachment device which temporarily attaches to watercrafts in order to combine the watercrafts into one multi-hull watercraft.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of watercrafts are popular boats used for fishing, as a tender to a larger vessel, or as a competitive sport. The smaller watercrafts may include kayaks, canoes and dinghies. Some watercrafts of this type may have either a hard or soft shell where the soft shell may be associated with the inflatable type of watercrafts. Because the size of such watercrafts may be limited, a group of people may utilize multiple boats on an outing involving a number of people.
Many smaller watercrafts are single-hulled boats that may be powered by hand paddling or rowing in the case of a rowboat. Users may utilize a single paddle, two paddles used in unison or a paddle per occupant to propel the watercraft through the waterway. Some watercrafts may accommodate two or more people depending on size and configuration. Smaller watercraft however do have some size limitations and thus larger groups of people will need to use multiple watercrafts on outer. On certain occasions where multiple watercrafts are being employed by a group, it may be advantageous to temporarily join two or more watercrafts to form a single multi-hulled watercraft due to water conditions or as desired for other purposes such as fishing.
The prior art includes disclosure of a dual-hulled kayak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,498 which discloses two separate kayak hulls that are rigidly joined to form a stiff and flexible structure that is capable of seating two or more persons. The kayak disclosed within the '498 patent includes upright seating across the middle of the joint kayak hulls and the use of row paddles to propel the uniform dual-hulled kayak through a waterway.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,608 discloses a dual-hulled watercraft that enables a user to straddle a connector between the hulls in order to navigate the dual-hulled watercraft. In another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,974, a catamaran kayak is disclosed that includes a plurality of hulls that are joined together and laterally spaced by elongated connectors. The catamaran kayak of the '974 patent includes flexible couplings that are formed on the hulls to receive the ends of the elongated connectors. Similar to the above references, the catamaran kayak is a permanently affixed fixture that allows two or more kayaks to be laterally joined.
Consequently there is a need for a apparatus which could be conveniently attached to two or more separate watercrafts that enables the watercrafts to be joined at least temporarily in order to create a multi-hulled watercraft without having to incorporate permanently affixed coupling and to maintain the original structure in place.